


a siren's kiss

by DearTheodosia (DapperMuffin)



Series: not all treasures are gold [2]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, F/F, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Magical Memory Loss, Memory Loss, Not Really Character Death, Sirens, Suicide Attempt, Temporary Character Death, implied suicidal thoughts, making up my own mythology, to make it gayer of course
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27715423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DapperMuffin/pseuds/DearTheodosia
Summary: Eliza is a siren, doomed forever to a life in the water. When a woman falls into her ocean, she has a choice to make. But... does she have the right to save Maria? If she doesn't want to be saved?
Relationships: Maria Reynolds/Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler
Series: not all treasures are gold [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023655
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	a siren's kiss

She had no memories. She must have had a past, everyone does, a mother and a father or some combination of the two. Did she have siblings? Friends? Pets?

But she doesn’t know. She doesn’t remember.

All that she remembers is her  _ name _ .

Elizabeth.

But she prefers Eliza.

What she does know:

  * she’s a siren
  * she’s alone
  * she should be seeking out boats to lure men overboard with her song…
  * …but she has no interest in such pursuits
  * wait, what was that? a splash?



Eliza’s eyes open, and she scans the water for anything that could have fallen in. Splashes can sometimes be caused by something already in the water, a fish jumping out of the water, perhaps, but one that big…?

Eliza finds what she’s been looking for, and is immediately entranced.

The figure in the water is eerie. Very little moonlight penetrates the dark water, and yet the figure is lit from behind. Her scarlet skirts blossom out around her, reminiscent of blood, her dark hair floating around her face. She’s sinking slowly. She doesn’t struggle, and as a precious bubble of oxygen escapes her parted lips, Eliza comes to her senses.

She lets out a few desperate notes as she swims toward the woman in red, hoping the woman might be conscious enough to hear her, but the woman doesn’t respond. Almost as if she's already given up.

Eliza seizes the woman around the waist, kicking at the water and hissing as the woman’s skirts tangle her legs, rendering her immobile. Eliza had hoped to save the woman, to return her to her life and to her ship, but it looks as though time is almost up.

Eliza sings a few gentle notes, and with a little coaxing, the woman’s subconscious responds. Her name is Maria, and… and…

What Eliza knows about Maria:

  * she’s been trapped in an abusive marriage since she was seventeen. It’s been eight years.
  * she bartered for passage on a boat. Her plan was to escape the continent—and her husband.
  * but the boat was taken over by pirates; these weren’t the honorable kind, though, these were vicious, cruel men who took what they wanted and destroyed what they didn’t.
  * including the other passengers.
  * these pirates had kept Maria captive on their boat, tying her up and gagging her whenever they docked to eliminate the possibility of her running or calling for help. They took what they wanted from her, regardless of her consent or lack thereof.
  * she’d decided to leap overboard. She was so desperate to escape her continued trauma that she’d ended her life.
  * the moment the pirates' heads had been turned, she'd made a run for it.



And Eliza has a choice.

Maria’s oxygen supply is dwindling quickly. Eliza has two options:

_ \- Let her drown like she’d chosen for herself when she’d decided to jump. _

_ \- Save her, in turn changing her into a siren with no memory but for her name. _

Does Eliza have the right to make that choice for someone else?

Time is running out.

Eliza makes the selfish choice.

♒︎♒︎♒︎

The woman in red wakes with a start. She pushes down the instinctual panic that surfaces. For some odd reason, she has the feeling she shouldn’t be able to breathe underwater, yet right now, she doesn’t seem to be having any trouble.

She puts a hand to her head. There’s a throbbing pain in her right temple. Where is she? Why is she there? What had she been doing? There’s nothing to recall.

“Maria.” A voice comes from her left, and, oh, what a voice it is. A melody can be heard faintly under each word, and she—Maria? is that her name?—feels compelled to listen.

And the one the voice belongs to. If the voice is wondrous, then the body it belongs to is truly sublime. There’s a woman in the water beside her, a woman with long, flowing hair, a woman who glows faintly blue, a woman whose eyes seek to draw her in, and Maria lessens the gap between them.

“I know you have many questions,” the woman says. She would appear to be floating in the water, but then, so would Maria, once she stops to observe. “You are Maria. I am called Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth is about to say more, but Maria holds up one hand. (One hand that glows a pale red, akin to Elizabeth’s blue.) “Tell me later.”

Elizabeth nods, her eyes compassioned. “Then what do you want to do now?”

“Show me around.” Maria allows herself delight when Elizabeth entwines their fingers. She doesn’t mention that the one memory she has is Elizabeth, kissing her—saving her?—turning her into whatever she is now. She allows Elizabeth to lead her through the still waters, casting one last look back at the ship in the distance. She has faith in Elizabeth’s good intentions, and maybe it’s just the woman’s voice, but there’s something about her that makes Maria want to trust her. So she does, and it’s as simple as that.


End file.
